The impact of working “eleven shift
fortnight” schedule on labour efficiency in a gold
mine within a South African setup
NA Mbobo
orcid.org 0000-0003-4699-332X
Mini-dissertation accepted in partial fulfilment of the
requirements for the degree
Masters of Business
Administration
at the North-West University
Supervisor: Mr B Manda
i ABSTRACT
This study reports on the impact of the working “11 shift fortnight” schedule at a selected gold mine in the Welkom area in South Africa on labour efficiency and utilisation. The main question was that is this schedule a bottleneck. Production employees work for at least five or six consecutive days, an average of 10 hours daily to be able to complete the job of the day. South African gold mines have become deeper, and the places of work are far from the entrance to mine stations, which lead to challenges such as the supply of material, compressed air and other resources needed for the safe production. Employees travel long distances underground before they start doing productive work. Production is based on targets to be achieved and not working hours. The study was quantitative in nature. Questionnaires were used to collect data on demographics and constructs intended to extract the data with a response rate of 75% on a population of 200. The impact of the 11-shift fortnight on the employees includes fatigue where most employees are continuously tired due to lack of rest, employees frequently getting sick which leads to high labour unavailability, employees not being able to spend enough time with their immediate families and relatives which compromises family structures. The main factors contributing negatively to labour productivity as per the survey are material or tools, services and safety issues. This has an impact on the performance of the team because their performance is measured on their output. This 11-shifts fortnight shift arrangement is a hindrance to mine productivity. Labour utilisation and efficiency, safety, social life and labour availability are negatively affected. Management is, therefore, advised to adopt some of the recommendation given in this study to mitigate the effect of this schedule on productivity.
Key Terms: 11-shift fortnight, bottleneck, job quality, long working hours, labour efficiency, work-life balance, gold mine.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to God for the strength and power He has given me to fulfil my management mission. I faced numerous challenges along the way that could stop me from completing my MBA. He protected and guided me along the way.
I thank my wife, Paballo Mbobo and my daughter, Okuhle Mbobo, who were willing to sacrifice high-quality times to make this happen. I thank them for their encouragement and understanding that made my MBA journey to come true.
I would like to thank my supervisor, Badnock Manda, for his passionate participation and input throughout my MBA journey.
I thank all of North-West University’s administrative and educational staff, who made the MBA trip exciting and who were always supportive and ready to help.
The learning experience was exceptional, exciting; however, thought-provoking, I sincerely thank everyone who has been part of my MBA and thesis in some way. This was an outstanding learning experience.
iii TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ... I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... II LIST OF FIGURES ... VII LIST OF TABLES ... X
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ... 1
1.1 BACKGROUND ... 1
1.2 MINE SETUP AND OVERVIEW OF THE CHALLENGE ... 2
1.3 THE PROBLEM STATEMENT ... 3
1.4 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY ... 5
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS... 5
1.6 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ... 5
1.7 FOCUS AREA OF THE STUDY ... 6
1.8 RESEARCH METHOD ... 7 1.9 DATA COLLECTION ... 8 1.10 RESEARCH TOOL ... 8 1.11 RESEARCH POPULATION ... 9 1.12 SAMPLING ... 9 1.13 DATA ANALYSIS ... 10
1.14 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY ... 10
1.15 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CHALLENGE ... 11
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ... 12
2.2 OVERVIEW OF THE MINING INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA ... 12
2.3 LAWS, REGULATIONS AND STANDARDS IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN MINING INDUSTRY ... 21
2.4 THE IMPACT OF WORKING LONG HOURS IN MINING ... 23
2.5 BOTTLENECK AND THEORY OF CONSTRAINS... 25
2.5.1 Definition and origins of bottleneck ... 25
2.5.2 Theory of constraints ... 26
2.5.3 Bottleneck vs constrains ... 27
2.5.4 Reasons for bottlenecks ... 28
2.6 PREVIOUS STUDIES ... 29
2.7 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ... 31
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODS ... 33
3.1 INTRODUCTION ... 33 3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN ... 33 3.3 RESEARCH APPROACH ... 34 3.4 DATA COLLECTION ... 34 3.5 RESEARCH TOOL ... 34 3.6 RESEARCH POPULATION ... 35 3.7 SAMPLING ... 36 3.8 DATA ANALYSIS ... 37 3.8.1 Descriptive Statistics... 37 3.8.2 Cronbach Alpha ... 38
v
3.8.4 Relative Importance Index (RII) ... 39
3.9 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY ... 39
3.10 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS ... 39
3.11 RESEARCH LIMITATIONS ... 40
3.12 SUMMARY ... 41
CHAPTER 4 PRESENTATION OF RESULTS AND FINDINGS ... 42
4.1 INTRODUCTION ... 42
4.2 CRONBACH’S ANALYSIS ... 43
4.3 DEMOGRAPHICS ANALYSIS ... 46
4.4 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS ... 52
4.4.1 Shift work analysis ... 52
4.4.2 Job satisfaction ... 62
4.4.3 Team performance ... 65
4.4.4 Shift satisfaction ... 67
4.4.5 Fatigue ... 69
4.4.6 Factors affecting the mining industry negatively ... 72
4.4.6.1 Manpower Issues ... 72
4.4.6.2 Leadership Issues ... 74
4.4.6.3 Motivational Issues ... 76
4.4.6.4 Time Issues ... 78
4.4.6.5 Material / Tool Issues ... 80
4.4.6.7 Safety Issues ... 83
4.5 RELATIVE IMPORTANCE INDEX ... 84
4.6 LABOUR UNAVAILABILITY FOR PRODUCTION... 87
4.7 FISHBONE ANALYSIS ... 87
4.8 SWOT ANALYSIS ... 89
4.9 CONCLUSIONS ... 90
CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ... 91
5.1 INTRODUCTION ... 91 5.2 DISCUSSION ... 91 5.3 CONCLUSIONS ... 95 5.4 RECOMMENDATIONS ... 97 5.5 FUTURE RESEARCH ... 100 REFERENCES ... 101 APPENDICES ... 108 APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE ... 108
vii LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1-1: Underground mine layout ... 2
Figure 1-2: “11-shift fortnight” causation ... 4
Figure 1-3: Employee remuneration as a component of total operating costs ... 7
Figure 2-1: Location of Gold Mines ... 14
Figure 2-2: Average Annual Gold Price: Rand versus US$ ... 18
Figure 2-3: Employment and earnings: South African gold mines ... 19
Figure 2-4: Gold Mining History Timeline ... 20
Figure 2-5: Five focusing steps cycle ... 27
Figure 2-6: Constrain vs Bottleneck ... 28
Figure 2-6: Conceptual model of the relationship between demanding work schedules and occupational injuries and illnesses ... 31
Figure 3.1: Research Process ... 33
Figure 3-2: Sampling Process ... 36
Figure 4-1: Gender ... 47
Figure 4-2: Age Analysis ... 47
Figure 4-3: Marriage Status ... 48
Figure 4-4: Divorce Analysis ... 48
Figure 4-5: Family Residential Analysis... 49
Figure 4-6: Location Analysis ... 49
Figure 4-7: Engineering Department Occupation ... 50
Figure 4-9: Service Department Occupation ... 51
Figure 4-10: What is your experience within the mining industry in years? ... 52
Figure 4-11: Which shift do you work? ... 53
Figure 4-12: What is the length of your shift? ... 53
Figure 4-13: How many hours do you actually work per shift? ... 53
Figure 4-14: What are your total working hours a week? (Average over four weeks) ... 54
Figure 4-15: Have you used any of the following substances to cope with shift work? ... 54
Figure 4-16: Why do you work 11-shift fortnight? ... 54
Figure 4-17: How long have you worked 11-shift fortnight in years? ... 55
Figure 4-18: How many shifts you have missed due to sickness in the last 12 months? ... 55
Figure 4-19: Can you be contacted readily at work in case of family emergency? ... 56
Figure 4-20: Shift Variations ... 56
Figure 4-21: Call-outs and Travelling times ... 57
Figure 4-22: Have you experience any of the following symptoms as a result of your long working hours? ... 58
Figure 4-23: Family and Social Life ... 61
Figure 4-24: Are you happy with the general working conditions of your workplace? ... 62
Figure 4-25: Are you being paid properly? ... 63
ix
Figure 4-27: How is your working relationship with team members? ... 65
Figure 4-28: Team Performance ... 66
Figure 4-29: Shift satisfaction ... 68
Figure 4-30: Fatigue ... 70
Figure 4-31: Manpower Issues ... 72
Figure 4-32: Leadership Issues ... 75
Figure 4-33: Motivation Issues ... 77
Figure 4-34: Time Issues ... 78
Figure 4-35: Material/ Tools Issues ... 80
Figure 4-36: Service Issues ... 82
Figure 4-37: Safety Issues ... 83
Figure 4-38: Factors that negatively affect labour productivity in the mining industry ... 88
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2-1: Key mineral statistics for South Africa: 2008-2018 ... 16
Table 2-2: South African gold production and sales ... 18
Table 2-4: Previous studies that have examined the impact of long work hours on workers’ risk for occupational injuries and illnesses ... 29
Table 3-1: Respondents ... 37
Table 3-2: Cronbach's alpha ... 38
Table 4-1a: Cronbach analysis ... 43
Table 4-1b: Cronbach analysis ... 44
Table 4-1c: Cronbach analysis ... 45
Table 4-2: 11-shift fortnight experience versus Age ... 59
Table 4-3: Sickness versus 11-shift fortnight experience ... 59
Table 4-4: Sickness versus Age ... 60
Table 4-5: Relative importance index ... 85
Table 4-6: Labour unavailability (absenteeism) ... 87
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
This study is being undertaken in the operations management context within the underground gold mining sector in South Africa. South African mines are among the deepest mines in the world. Some mines are four kilometres deep. It is accepted that the deeper the mine is, the higher the operating costs are. Deeper mines are also less productivity (Mineral Council of South Africa, 2018).
In most of these deep mines, actual production sites or workplaces are far from the shaft station. As a result, workers spend almost 50% of their time travelling to and from their respective workplaces or production sites. This significantly increases the operating costs and reduces the time spent by the workers to carry out actual production.
On average, South African gold mines are the most expensive to operate in the world, with sustaining production costs averaging at US$1,035/Oz compared to the global average of US$818/Oz. The labour component is also the primary cost driver, responsible for 53% of the total costs, followed by electricity at 20% (Mineral Council of South Africa, 2018).
The mining industry often uses shift work schedules intending to have a productive working mine around the clock. Such shifts are:
fixed morning; afternoon shift; night shift; and the rotational shift.
The majority of the production employees work the morning shift. Essential services employees work rotational shifts. This means that they alternate between the three shift types: morning, afternoon and night. These employees are attending essential services at the mine such as pump stations, lamp-rooms and control-rooms.
Local gold mines have clung to the 48-hour working week for decades. Since the 1970s, this has mostly taken the form of the “11-shift fortnight”. This arrangement gives employees a
two-day break every other weekend: a worker works six days one week, then five days the next, with everyone taking Sundays off.
The focus of the study is to decipher the impact of the 11-shift fortnight arrangement on labour efficiency, given the current mine set up.
1.2 MINE SETUP AND OVERVIEW OF THE CHALLENGE
The mine set up is indicated in figure 1-1 below. It consists of the North Shaft and South Shaft. The South Shaft complex is equipped with a man and material winder and a rock winder that is now only utilised as an emergency winder. There is no mining taking place at the South Shaft side as all the ground that was available for mining has been depleted. All mining activities are taking place at the North Shaft complex side.
Figure 1-1: Underground mine layout
Due to financial and other challenges, the North Shaft was never equipped to accommodate man and material hoisting at the same time. Although the North Shaft complex is equipped with the dual-purpose winder, it is mainly utilised for rock hoisting. All employees access
their respective workplaces via the South Shaft. They travel underground from the South Shaft along the route indicated by the yellow line on Fig 1-1 to their respective workplaces.
Given the current setup of the mine and infrastructure challenges, travelling time to the workplaces has becomes a big challenge. Employees travel unproductively long distances underground to arrive at their workplaces before they start productive duties of the day. Travelling time to and from the workplace takes about three hours in total. From the eight hours twenty-three minutes (8h23m), they are left with only five hours twenty-three (5h23m) to perform their daily duties.
It is not possible to safely complete the daily tasks within these limited hours; therefore, employees are forced to work more hours to achieve the daily call. As a result of working in such an unique work system, many employees complain of physical fatigue, psychological challenges and social problems (Alqahtani, 1997).
There have been several studies conducted about shift work, especially in European countries. These focused on the effects of shift work on employee's work performance, social behaviour and attitudes. There has not been a study assessing the impact of “eleven shift fortnight” night schedule as a bottleneck on labour efficiency. Assessing the impact of “eleven shift fortnight” work schedule bottleneck and other factors on labour efficiency in a gold mine will be the theme of this study.
1.3 THE PROBLEM STATEMENT
Currently, many mines are not able to achieve their safe blast within the specified normal working hours as per the agreement (eleven shifts per fortnight) with the labour unions. This shift pattern has been in use since the inception of mining in South Africa.
On average, production employees work an average of ten (10) hours daily for at least five or six consecutive days to be able to blast at the end of the day. This working arrangement of eleven shifts per fortnight has turned to be a bottleneck to the productivity of the mine. Since gold mines have become deeper, and workplaces are far from the entrance of the mine or shaft stations, employees have to travel long distances underground before they start doing productive work.
From the above-stated background, it is evident that the current work arrangement (eleven shifts per fortnight system) that is still being utilised in most South African gold mines can be regarded as a bottleneck to the mines.
In addition to the reasons mentioned above for long working hours in mining, there are also other challenges of the working day. Both avoidable and unavoidable delays result in wasted time spent underground. Accidents, instruction stoppages by the Department Mineral Resources (DMR, 2020) (Section 54 and Section 55), labour shortages, problems with machinery and a range of other challenges in the social organisation of production, often mainly due to managerial inefficiencies, further contribute to mining requiring and maintaining relatively long working hours.
The question, based on the excessive travelling times, is if employees should work longer shifts (shortened or compressed week) to give them a better chance to achieve an effective shift and blast, and in the process, work less to ensure that number of hours per week or month complies to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and Regulations (No. 75 of 1997) section 9(1) (SA, 1997) and the Minerals Act (No. 50 of 1991) (SA, 1991). Labour utilisation and efficiency, safety, social life and labour availability are negatively affected.
Goldratt and Cox (2004) indicate that it may turn out that real bottlenecks are not because of capacity limitations but because of inaccurate planning and management. Hence the problem statement is whether eleven shift fortnight working schedule in the deep gold mines in South Africa is a bottleneck to mine’s operation.
Figure 1-2: “11-shift fortnight” causation
Source: The organisation understudy
1.4 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The overall aim of the study is to identify the relevance and the impact of “11-shift fortnight" working arrangement in a deep gold mine in South Africa on labour efficiency, labour utilisation, labour productivity and labour availability. Furthermore, it is to find other pertinent factors such as effects on employee safety, fatigue, and social life in this setup where employees need to travel long distances underground before reaching their respective workplaces.
Labour utilisation is defined as the percentage of time a team or individual employee is available for productive work during a scheduled shift. On the one hand, labour productivity is concerned with the amount of output (square meter, meters or tons) that is obtained from each employee. It is defined as the percentage of time that the team or individual employees are at the workplace with tools performing a productive job. According to Aljuhani (2002), labour availability is the number of employees available for productive work.
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTION
The main research question for this study is as follows:
What is the impact of “11-shift fortnight” working arrangement on mine performance metrics?
1.6 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The main objective of this study is as follows:
To identify the relevance and the impact of “11-shift fortnight” working arrangement in a mine where employees need to travel long distances underground before reaching their respective workplaces to labour efficiency, utilisation, productivity, availability and the safety of the employees.
The sub-objective is to
Explore other factors and their relative importance in negatively affecting labour productivity in the mining industry.
1.7 FOCUS AREA OF THE STUDY
This study will be conducted in the deep gold mines around Welkom area, Free State Province, with employees that are having workplaces that are far away from the shaft entrance. This mine in the Welkom area was selected for study as it is one of the deepest gold mines.
The target population of this study comprises of gold mine management, head of departments, employees (such as artisans, miners, CAT4-8, and others) who works underground. The target group will be divided into department such as:
a) Mining department;
b) Engineering department; and
c) Services department (Ore Reserve department, Occupation Hygiene department and Safety department).
The mine is arranged in such a way people travel for about one hour and thirty minutes (1h30m) to get to their workplaces. In this study, the researcher is looking at labour efficiency because labour is the most expensive resource in the South African gold mining industry. At about 53% of the total cost, remuneration by far represents the most significant component of input costs in the gold mining industry (Fig 1-3); this is far more than in any other mining sector (Mineral Council of South Africa, 2018).
Figure 1-3: Employee remuneration as a component of total operating costs
Source: Mineral Council of South Africa (2018)
Moreover, enhancing productivity per man-hour is one of the most significant savings in manpower, and that can be a powerful incentive to any mine (Aijuhani, 2002:307).
The study will concentrate on mine employees who are directly affected by this problem which are employees working underground and their head of departments (HOD).
The results of this study can be generalised to other gold mines that are: a) working “11-shift fortnight” working arrangement and
b) having workplaces that are far away from the shaft entrance or stations.
1.8 RESEARCH METHOD
A quantitative research design will be adopted for this study because the researcher wants to get a sample and generalise the findings of the population in the study. This research approach is associated with objectivity where numbers are involved, analysis and interpretation of the collected data. The chosen design allows the researcher to generalise the results from a sample to any population of interest, and to measure the incidence of various views and opinions in a chosen sample.
1.9 DATA COLLECTION
Both primary and secondary data will be collected for this study. The investigator can gather the primary information on the variables of interest for the general purpose of the study by means of delivering questionnaire to the employees during mining and engineering safety meetings as well as observing selected teams and recording the findings. The secondary data will be collected from the HR department and also from the safety department during the period of the study.
Data collection is summarised as:
Non-participant quantitative observation - data will be collected by observing selected teams and recoding the findings as being observed.
Questionnaire - data will be collected delivering questionnaire to the employees during mining and engineering safety meetings.
Reports – the researcher will collect reports from Human Resource (HR)
department and also from the safety department during the period of the study.
1.10 RESEARCH TOOL
Structured questionnaires will be used to conduct the survey. Questionnaires pose a series of questions to the participants, whose responses will be tabulated into percentages or frequency counts or statistical indexes and these results will be used to draw inferences about a particular population based on the sample of participants (Leedy and Ormrod, 2013).
The questionnaire will consist of closed-ended questions that will prompt the respondent to choose an option from a pre-defined list. Closed-ended questions are opted for because they are efficiently coded and statistically analysed without the need for responses first to be translated like it is with open-ended questions.
Questions will be categorised into one of these research headings as follows:
Demographics;
Employee rooster;
Employee work hours;
Shift work satisfaction;
Fatigue questions;
Team performance;
Observation study; and
Other factors that affect labour productivity and efficiency.
The questionnaire will be tested initially on a pilot sample of three to five respondents in order to verify the duration it would take to complete and to check for any potential threats to the instrument's internal validity because unreliable instruments can influence results (Maree and Van der Westhuizen, 2010). After conducting the pilot study, any errors picked will be rectified before sending the questionnaire out to potential respondents to ensure that the results are not distorted.
1.11 RESEARCH POPULATION
The research population is defined as an overall or total entity in which the researcher's interest is invested (Wilson, 2016:45). Reaching out to the whole fraternity or population in which the research is examined is most likely impossible. Identification of a group of people (smaller in number than the population), collection of individuals, objects or events about which the researcher intend to make inferences is critical (Alvi, 2016:11). For this study, the research population will be all the employees of the organisation under study, which is one of the deep gold mining companies in South Africa.
1.12 SAMPLING
A sample is a subset of the population and includes some of its members. The sampling design that will be used for this study is the probability technique, where the elements in the population have some known, non-zero chance or probability of being selected as sample subjects (Sekaran and Bougie, 2013).
The researcher will use a stratified random sampling technique to ensure that specific groups within the unit under study are sampled and represented as per Table 1 below. Proportionate stratified random sampling will be used for this study. On this type of strategy,
the number of elements from each stratum is selected concerning its proportion in the total population (Kumar, 2019). This will be employees who work underground.
Table 1-1: Respondents Department Total Population/
Department Percentage of strata Sample size/ Department Mining 1059 65.7% 212 Engineering 493 30.6% 99 Safety 13 0.8% 3 Ore Reserve 36 2.2% 7 Ventilation 10 0.6% 2 Total 1611 100% 322
The stratified sampling technique is probably the most efficient among all probability designs. It is the right choice when differentiated information is needed regarding various strata within the population, which are known to differ in their parameters in the sense that for the same number of sample subjects, it offers precise and detailed information (Sekaran and Bougie, 2013).
Zikmund and Babin (2007) stated that there are "three factors that the appropriateness of a sampling technique and these are a) the level of precision (closeness to the proximity population) or, (b) confidence level (how sure the researcher can be) and (c) degree of variability (margin of error)". The sample size needs to be relatively big enough to make sure all insights that are considered crucial are included.
1.13 DATA ANALYSIS
Techniques of descriptive and inferential statistical analysis techniques will be applied to the data through the use of statistical software such as R or IBM SPSS (Version 26).
1.14 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY
extent the researcher gained access to the informant’s knowledge and meaning (Smallbone and Quinton (2004).
Research validity will be maintained through appropriate structural alignment of primary data against the research framework and research objectives. A pilot test of surveys will be conducted with three to five respondents to ensure that the questionnaire is not ambiguous. After the pilot run, necessary adjustments will be made, and after that, the actual research survey will be conducted.
1.15 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CHALLENGE
The importance of this study is to make mine management and all stakeholders aware of the impact of “11-shift fortnight” in a mine where employees travel long distances to their workplaces and impact of other factors to labour efficiency. This will help management to formulate corrective actions to the problems presented.
The majority of gold mine's employees are migrants, mainly coming from the Eastern Cape, Lesotho and Mozambique. The flexibility of working arrangements may allow migrant employees to return to their homes and families more frequently.
The research would give some insight into the problem and offer suggestions to the mine management on how to reduce the negative impact of this bottleneck.
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter deals with the theoretical foundation used in this study. This theoretical framework involves a literature review on the “eleven shift fortnight” schedule and its impact on the efficiency of labour in a South African gold mine. It also includes findings from other researchers on the same topic.
It covers the state of the mining industry in South Africa, the regulatory framework, the impact of working long hours and discusses the literature on bottlenecks and their management. The chapter then ends with concluding remarks of what based on the theoretical and empirical perspectives of other published works.
2.2 OVERVIEW OF THE MINING INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA
The mining industry in South Africa started in 1867. It began with the accidental discovery of an alluvial diamond on the shores of the Orange River. These alluvial diamonds were scattered all over the surrounding area, originally in yellow earth and subsequently beneath the blue hard rock that would come to be called kimberlite
The discovery of diamonds led to the rapid development of the diamond mining town of Kimberly. During the 1880s, about 95% of the world's diamonds were unearthed by the mines around Kimberley (Bright, 2013; Minerals Council South Africa, 2018).
In the year 1886, gold was another significant discovery in South Africa’s mining history. The discovery of gold at a town called Langlaagte on the Witwatersrand was the most productive reef in the world and accounted for approximately 40% of the country’s total gold stocks. This discovery of gold soon catapulted the fast-emerging mineral industry of South Africa.
During the same time of the gold discovery, the South African’s first considerable tons of coal was discovered in Witwatersrand Basin. These discoveries enabled the cities and towns around the reef to develop very quickly. In the ensuing years, Johannesburg city, which was located on a short gap at the East-West running reef was at the forefront of those
some of the biggest mining companies in the world. (Bright, 2013; Minerals Council South Africa, 2018).
The discovery of gold in the late 19th century spawned the development of the city of Johannesburg, Egoli, or the City of Gold, and numerous towns around the gold diggings, including Barberton and Pilgrim’s Rest. In the 20th century, the large gold mines on the West Wits line were established, and towns like Carletonville and Klerksdorp became important and busy centres around the world-famous gold mines: Kloof, Driefontein and Western Deep Levels.
South Africa does have other smaller gold producers outside of the Witwatersrand, in the form of Archaean greenstone belts. The main gold producing greenstone belts are the Barberton greenstone belt and the Kraaipan greenstone belt. In 1946, the Free State Province gold had been discovered on a farm approximately a 160 kilometres North of its capital city Bloemfontein.
Drilling was the preferred method to discover gold at locations that were pinpointed by the newly established geological developments. It did not take long for the mining industry to develop roots in the area, and not long after, in 1947, the city of Welkom was established. Over the years Wekom expanded rapidly and remains a vital producer of uranium, mineral ore and gold (Minerals Council South Africa, 2018).
The gold reef basin stretches over an arc of roughly 400km across the Free State, North West and Gauteng provinces in South Africa as represented on figure 2-1 below.
Figure 2-1: Location of Gold Mines
Source: Mineral Council South Africa (2019)
The mining industry once contributed up 21% to the South African’s Gross domestic products (GDP) in its peak years. In recent years, the industry has contracted and now surpassed by other sectors such as service and manufacturing industries.
However, the mining industry remains a key economic activity as it is the sixth biggest economic sector in the country. Due to its history on a global scale, the South African mining industry can show off its expertise in technology and innovation and offers a wide range of research and development activities.
In addition to its platinum and gold benefits, the South African country has first-class leading processing systems covering carbon steel, stainless steel, and aluminium. Two of the largest mining companies in the world have roots in South Africa. The first largest mining company in the world, BHP Billiton, came from the merger between the Australian BHP Group and South Africa's Billiton while the second-largest mining company in the world is Anglo American Plc. With the London Stock Exchange as its primary listing and the secondary listing in Johannesburg, Anglo American Plc. has numerous large subsidiaries such as
Anglo Platinum, Anglo Coal, Impala Platinum and Kumba Iron Ore (Bright, 2013; Minerals Council South Africa, 2018).
South African mining continues to be attractive, with the country having one of the richest mineral and metal reserves in the world. In addition to gold, coal, platinum, manganese, palladium, titanium and uranium, South Africa remains one of the leading global producers for various minerals. South Africa also hosts the world's leading mining companies as the gateway to the African mining industry (Mineral Council South Africa, 2019).
More than any other industry, mining has assisted in shaping South Africa. The mining industry turned a predominantly rural economy into an industrial economy; cities and towns were developed and substantial foreign capital attracted. This called for the creation of stock markets, higher institutions and high skills development. The mining companies of South Africa became the first companies in the world to introduce an insurance scheme for their workers.
In addition, the companies spent a large amount of money in setting up entities like the Institute of Medical Research in South African. In summary, mining inspired the development of the humanities and communities as well as technology (Minerals Council South Africa, 2018; 2019).
Although the mining industry is no longer the leading economic sector in South Africa's economy, it is still a significant player of the country's foreign exchange income. Mining is still dominating the economies of four of the nine provinces and many major cities. Coal is used to supply 90% of electricity in South Africa (Mineral Council South Africa, 2018).
In 2019, mining in South Africa was accountable for around 60% of the country's exports per year. The industry value was R 452, 67 billion (USD 33,17 billion). South Africa plays a major role in diamond mining, and also chrome and coal, providing 90% of the country's electricity requirements.
South Africa has platinum group metals reserves and coal reserves that are expected to last for at least 335 years and 256 years, respectively. Currently, mining projects in South Africa represent 8% of the country's GDP, boasts a total annual income of nearly R500 billion. Furthermore, mining companies are one of the country's major employers, employing around 500 000 workers directly (Mineral Council South Africa, 2018, 2019).
It can be noted on table 2-1, the sector contributed R350.8 billion (nominal) or 7.3% to the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018 (in 2017 the contribution was 7.5%), the sector contracted by 1.7%. For many years, lucrative foreign direct investments have been drawn to South Africa by the mining industry. While the most known minerals and mineral metals are gold, diamonds, platinum and charcoal, South Africa also hosts several lesser minerals, such as chromium, vanadium, titanium (Mineral Council South Africa, 2019).
Table 2-2: Key mineral statistics for South Africa: 2008-2018 (Continued)
Source: Mineral council South Africa (2019)
Table 2-1 indicates that, while the number of people employed in the gold sector has been on the decline since 2007, total employee earnings have increased from R15.9 billion in 2008 to R27.6 billion in 2018.
South Africa was the main producer of gold in the world for many years. At the beginning of the 21st century, the prestige of the gold sector was fading, as mines have become deeper
to get hold of the rich reef patches. In 2018, South Africa accounted for 3.3% of world gold production. Even though South Africa holds the world's deepest gold mines, the country has the third-largest gold reserves (60 000 tones) in the world after Australia (9 500 tonnes) and Russia (8 000 tonnes) (MINERAL Council South Africa, 2019).
Table 2-2: South African gold production and sales
Source: Mineral Council South Africa (2019)
During the same period, the price of gold fell dramatically from previous highs, while the world economy fell sharply in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis (Fact sheet, 2018; Mineral Council South Africa, 2018).
Figure 2-2: Average Annual Gold Price: Rand versus US$
Source: Mineral Council South Africa (2018)
Since the 1980s, gold employment has continued to fall, with about 100,189 workers employed at present. Simultaneously, productivity decreased, and wages increased. Nevertheless, gold mining remains a key employment factor in many communities across the country, and each worker in the gold industry supports five to ten other dependents. On
the other hand, each direct job in the mining sector leads to two other indirect jobs elsewhere (Facts and figures, 2019; Mineral Council South Africa, 2019).
Figure 2-3: Employment and earnings: South African gold mines
Figure 2-4: Gold Mining History Timeline
2.3 LAWS, REGULATIONS AND STANDARDS IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN MINING INDUSTRY
The mining industry in South Africa is managed by the Department of Mineral Resources, with headquarters in Pretoria, South Africa. The Department of Mineral Resources has regional offices in each of the nine provinces of South Africa. The minister enforces the laws. Apart from the minister, there is an appointed Director General and Deputy Director General who have delegated power to make different decisions on behalf of the minister.
Furthermore, the mining industry in South Africa is also governed by the common law of South Africa derived from Roman law principles through Roman-Dutch law. These principles are often described and enunciated in case law, which case law also places judicial interpretation upon legislation such as MPRDA. The law of delict is also relevant in a mining context.
The Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (No. 28 of 2002) (MPRDA), which is the prevailing law on acquisitions or the rights to conduct reconnaissance, prospecting and mining, regulate the South African Mining Law (SA, 2002). The MPRDA was implemented on 1 May 2004 and substituted the former hybrid system of a common-law system with statutory interference.
There are several other laws addressing subsidiary matters such as royalties, title registration and health and safety. The law addressing royalties is the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Royalty Act (No. 28 of 2008) and the law addressing title registration is the Mining Titles Registration Act (No. 16 of 1967) while the law addressing health and safety is the “Mine Health and Safety Act (No. 29 of 1996) of (SA, 1967, 2002, and 2008).
Several working hours’ schedules are associated with safety and health threats such as exhaustion and performance impairments and increased exposure to certain risks. Similar to other occupational safety and health problems, employers have a general obligation to ensure that employees, as far as possible, are not exposed to the hazards or threats that may result during working hours. Employers should mitigate these risks by implementing a systemic risk management process.
The Mineral Act (No. 50 of 1991) Regulations (MAR) 4.14.1 states that "Except as is provided for in regulation 4.14.2 no employee shall work, or be caused or permitted to work, in or at a mine for more than 48 hours in any consecutive seven days, exclusive of the time taken in getting to and from the place where the work is performed: Provided that any time is taken in excess of 60 minutes by persons employed underground to cover the distance from the shaft head or other entrance to the mine to their working place and back again, shall for this regulation, be deemed to be time worked" (SA, 1991). This regulation indicates clearly that travelling time of employees underground to and from their workplaces is regarded as time worked. Labour utilisation may, therefore, not be calculated by the time spent underground.
In addition, the legislation addresses issues, such as extended hours, shifts and call work that could occur in some working time arrangements. This incorporates several known risk factors in the workplace, which should already be addressed where workplace safety and health hazards are likely. It is the starting point for a workplace or industrial risk management process to tackle issues that might affect safety and health in the working time arrangement. This regulation gives a high level of general guidance as different workplaces and industries have different working hours’ arrangements.
Looking at the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (No. 75 of 1997) (BCEA) of South Africa, section 9 states that “an employer may not require or permit an employee to work more than:
(a) 45 hours in any week; and
(b) nine hours in any day if the employee works for five days or fewer in a week; or (c) eight hours in any day if the employee works on more than five days in a week” (SA, 1997).
This regulation contains provisions concerning the arrangement of work and, in particular, its impact upon the health, safety and welfare of employees. Issues that are included are shift work, night work, rest periods during working time, family responsibilities and work by children.
2.4 THE IMPACT OF WORKING LONG HOURS IN MINING
Shift work can be defined as a work schedule rule in which a worker replaces another to do the same job within a 24-hour period. Shift work compels a worker to invert his or her normal activity-rest cycle forcing adjustments to body routines. This adjustment is worsened when an employee works long hours (Castelluci and Altamirano, 2017).
As knowledge continues to grow, there has been some evidence that sleep deprivation, sleep disturbance and fatigue are health risks usually linked to long working hours. Fatigue was also established as a potential health threat in work involving shifts or daily or occasional night work (Geiger-Brown et al., 2012; Patterson et al., 2012).
Studies by Caruso and Waters (2008), Ferguson and Dawson (2012) and Lorenz (2008) confirmed that specific problems associated with working longing hours, are a decreased physical and mental capacity, work-related stress symptoms, increased exposure to threats such as pollution, hazards and sound, and other longer-term health effects.
Such health risks can have negative impacts on workplace safety standards and accident prevention efforts. Given these safety and health problems related to working long hour schedules, the balance between ' work-life ' and ' personal life ' can be adversely affected. This, in turn, can influence a person's fitness for work (Ferguson and Dawson; 2012; Lorenz, 2008).
The number of hours one works in Japan is a topical issue. According to the ministry of health of Japan, the numbers of workers with heart disease, cérébrovascular disease and mental disorders due to work have risen by about three times over the past decade, as revealed by statistics from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 2020). As a result, working long hours is a matter that is dealt with quickly in the interests of the health of employees.
Working long hours can also lead to the development of karoshi (sudden death by cardiovascular or cerebrovascular diseases due to overwork) and karojisatsu (suicide due to overwork). However, in many countries long hours of work are the norm. South Korea, according to statistical data of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, 2012), had the longest average annual hours of work between 1980 and 2007. In
2008, Korea, was dethroned by Mexico and became the country with the second longest average annual working hours. Similar to Japan, karoshi became recognised as an issue in Korea in the early 1990s (Cheng et al., 2012). Korea started to deliberately reduce their number of hours of work.
There have been investigations on the relationship between shift work and various outcomes such as all-cause mortality (Holtermann et al., 2010), disease (especially cardiovascular disease) (Liu and Tanaka, 2002), biological indices such as variation in heart rate, blood pressure (PR), arrhythmia in the respiratory sinus and etc., sleep, depression, alcohol use, body weight index, fatigue, and overall health status.
Mixed results have been obtained: positive, negative and no relationship have been reported. Despite this, the impact of long working hours on human well-being is still a hotly debated topic. Investigators suggest that contradictions in the results are due to numerous elements such as the definition of long hours of work, participants' characteristics, including shift work, results in measurement, and potential covariates (Tomioka et al., 2011; Schluter et al., 2012; Grosch et al., 2006).
Several studies have highlighted the correlation linking shift work and a person's well-being. Shift work is believed to be harmful to the employee’s well-being. Increased “myocardial risk, coronary events, ischemic stroke, GI symptoms, patricidal ulcers and metabolic syndromes” were linked with shift work activities. Furthermore, increased chance of breast cancer has also been identified for females who work night shift (Knutsson and Bøggild, 2010;Antunes et al., 2010; Wright et al., 2012).
Trinkoff et al. (2011) and Geiger-Brown et al. (2012) effectively linked working hours with fatigue and decreased levels of alertness, potentially resulting in more adverse events. However, it was also found the type of industry, its context and the tasks that are conducted affect the extent that longer shifts have on a negative influence on performance.
2.5 BOTTLENECK AND THEORY OF CONSTRAINS
The mine in this study does not have an infinite capacity nor is its process flow perfectly matched at every step; the mine has at least one bottleneck. The “11-shift fortnight’ schedule, a traditional scheduling paradigm has been identified as one of the bottlenecks.
2.5.1 Definition and origins of bottleneck
Goldratt and Cox (1994) are recognised as the founders of the theory of constraints. In their book (The Goal), Goldratt and Cox (1994) concluded that “bottleneck is any resource whose capacity is equal to or less than the demand placed upon it”. Other authors defined bottleneck as “A bottleneck is a department, facility, machine or resource already working at its capacity and which therefore cannot handle any additional demand placed upon it” (BusinessDictionary.com: 2019).
Both these authors based their explanation on the capacity of a resource. Unfortunately, they failed to consider that other bottlenecks are not necessary capacity based. In an attempt to find a universal definition for bottlenecks, Mukherjee and Chatterjee (2006:15) concluded that a "set of constraints with a strictly positive average shadow price is defined as a bottleneck". This definition gives an overall perspective of what a bottleneck is regardless of the specific classification of the bottleneck. It is not only based on a capacity of a resource. Mukherjee and Chatterjee (2006:139) point out that there are five classifications of bottleneck:
Capacity based bottleneck: this is a bottleneck as defined by Goldratt and Cox (2004: 139).
Critical path-based bottleneck: a resource or process that takes the longest time in operation for a specific demand. In this case, the capacity might be more than
enough, but operational time might be too long. The critical path in a project restricts the achievement of a lower project completion time.
Structural based bottlenecks: the inherent structure of the production environment might also be a bottleneck. This might be the design of the whole infrastructure that constrains the production chain.
System performance-based bottleneck: Mukherjee and Chatterjee (2006:4) concluded that their definition is the universal definition for the bottleneck that accommodates all five classifications of the bottleneck.
2.5.2 Theory of constraints
Theory of constraints is the management concept that was developed by Goldratt and Cox 2004: 139) to assist managers who want to increase throughput, decrease inventory and decrease operating expense of an organisation to answer the following questions on:
What to change?
What to change it to?
How to cause the change?
Theory of constrains focuses and pays attention to system constrains that restricts the output (throughput) of the entire system. The aim is to identify those constraints and put measures in place to maximise their outputs.
Goldratt and Cox (2004: 139) concluded that there are five steps (figure 2-5) to be followed to increase throughput. Those steps are as follows:
identify the system constrain
decide how to exploit the system constrain
Subsidiary everything else to the system constraint. This is a first step and the cost-effective step to consider when exploiting constraint(s),
elevate the system constraint(s). to increase the capacity of constraint will cost money and
if previous step constraint has been broken down, go back to step 1, prevent inaction from becoming a constraint.
Unfortunately, Goldratt and Cox (2004) failed to consider that it is not always possible or feasible to exploit constraint(s). After conducting a feasibility study, a manager may decide to:
Increase the capacity of the resource,
re-design the whole system to meet the demand,
accept constraint as it is. In this case, the only thing to do is to maintain it in such a way that breakdowns are eliminated or minimised.
Figure 2-5: Five focusing steps cycle
Source: Stephano (2014)
2.5.3 Bottleneck vs constrains
Hohmann (2014) concluded that "a bottleneck is a resource with a capacity less or equal to demand while constraining a limiting factor to organisation's performance. It is an obstacle to organisations’ ability to achieving their goals”.
A constraint is a resource operating at capacity or rate less than that of its predecessor. The bottleneck is a constraint that determines the capacity of the entire system. In the diagram below (Fig 2-6), if the demand per day is 100 units, both B and E will be regarded as constrains as their capacity is less than that of demand. Only E is regarded to be a bottleneck because any improvements to B will not improve the capacity of the factory (E determine the capacity of the factory).
Figure 2-6: Constrain vs Bottleneck
Source: Hohmann (2014)
A constraint can be called bottleneck, but a bottleneck is not always a constraint (Hohmann 2014).
2.5.4 Reasons for bottlenecks
There are several reasons why there are bottlenecks, and these are (Hohmann, 2014):
Inadequate design or focus: the design of the resource or the system was not meant to produce the required demand or due to poor design or due to what I call "temporary measures permanently". To increase the capacity of small design, in many cases, the whole system has to be re-design depending on the nature of the bottleneck.
Unplanned events: a failure or damage to the part of the production process that may temporarily or permanently restrict the system. This may also include decisions taken because of economic challenges such as the recession of 2008.
The inherent variability of the process: the sequential process and the nature of the system cannot be altered.
Each process will always have a bottleneck. It is, therefore, the duty of the manager and the rest of the staff to understand bottlenecks in their organisation. Managers may use the steps offered by Goldratt and Cox (2004) to exploit the bottleneck.
Although Goldratt and Cox (2004) are the founders of the theory of constraints, their definition only covers capacity constraint(s). Mukherjee and Chatterjee (2006) concluded that their definition is universal.
2.6 PREVIOUS STUDIES
Several studies have examined the impact of long work hours on workers’ occupational injuries and illnesses. Table 2-4 below provides a list of some of those studies. Most of the studies were conducted in the health industry. However, there is a lack of studies conducted undermining, and this is a gap in which this study would be able to close.
Table 2-4: Previous studies that have examined the impact of long work hours on workers’ risk for occupational injuries and illnesses
# Year Authors Document Industry
1 2013 Caruso and Waters Negative Impacts of Shiftwork and Long Work Hours
Health
2 2014 Bannai andTamakoshi The association between long working hours and health: A systematic review of epidemiological evidence
General
3 2014 Griffiths et al. Nurses’ Shift Length and Overtime
Working in 12 European Countries
Health
4 2012 Ferguson and Dawson 12-h or 8-h shifts? It depends. General
5 2008 Caruso and Waters. A review of work schedule issues and musculoskeletal disorders with an emphasis on the healthcare sector.
Health
6 2008 Lorenz 12-hour shifts: an ethical dilemma for
the nurse executive
Health
7 2013 Lobo et al. A concept analysis of nursing overtime Health
8 2010 Bae and Brewer Mandatory overtime regulations and
nurse overtime.
Health
9 2015 The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
Work schedules: shift work and long work hours.
10 2011 Saksvik et al. Individual differences in tolerance to shift work—a systematic review
Health
11 2010 Olds and Clarke The effect of work hours on adverse
events and errors in health care.
Health
12 2013 Bae and Brewer Presence of nurse mandatory overtime
regulations and nurse and patient outcomes.
Health
13 2012 Patterson et al. The shift length, fatigue, and safety conundrum in EMS.
Health
14 2013 Stimpfel et al. How differing shift lengths relate to quality outcomes in pediatrics.
Health
15 2013 Stimpfel and Aiken Hospital staff nurses’ shift length associated with safety and quality of care.
Health
16 2012 Nelson Long work hours for nurses Health
17 2010 Clifford The effects of fly-in/fly-out commute
arrangements and extended working hours on the stress, lifestyle,
relationships and health characteristics of Western Australian mining employees and their partners.
Mining
18 2004 Dembe et al. The impact of overtime and long work
hours on occupational injuries and illnesses: new evidence from the United States
General
19 1994 Duchon et al. Extended work days in mining and other
industries: a review of the literature.
Mining
20 2011 Torkington Sarah Larkins Tarun Sen Gupta
The psychosocial impacts of fly‐in fly‐ out and drive‐in drive‐out mining on mining employees: A qualitative study
Mining
21 1997 Meijman Mental fatigue and the efficiency of
information processing in relation to work times.
22 2000 McCartt et al. Factors associated with falling asleep at the wheel among long-distance truck drivers.
Transport
23 2012 Stewart Labour time in South African gold
mines: 1886-2006
Mining
2.7 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
The conceptual basis for this study is adapted from a theoretical model proposed by Michel Shuster and Susan Rhodes in 1985 (figure 2-6). In this model, overtime and long hours of work are presumed to affect the risk of workplace accidents by precipitating various intermediary conditions in affected workers, such as fatigue, stress, and drowsiness.
Figure 2-6: Conceptual model of the relationship between demanding work schedules and occupational injuries and illnesses
Source: Schuster and Rhode (1985)
The pathway linking a demanding work schedule to the intermediary condition and ultimately to a workplace accident can be mediated by a variety of individual and environmental factors, including personal characteristics (for example, age, gender, health status, job experience), job factors (for example, the intensity of work, exposure to hazards), and organisational factors (for example, overtime policy, supervision).
This study analyses the association between exposure to overtime and extended work schedules and the incidence of reported work-related injuries and illnesses, adjusting for the influence of several mediating factors, including age, gender, occupation, industry sector, and geographical region. The specific mechanisms by which fatigue, stress, or other intermediary conditions bring about a workplace accident are not investigated in this study.
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODS
3.1 INTRODUCTION
This section discusses the methods of research carried out in the design and development of research approaches, research methodology development, the primary instrument for data collection and related issues. The chapter explains, among other topics, how the author chose the study and research design. The experiment selected for the subject under review is a quantitative research project that is adopted using a structured questionnaire.
The researcher has created the fieldwork in this chapter because of the aims and objectives of the study and given an assessment of the topic from the research in the literature review. The primary purpose of this chapter is to collect data to help the researcher meet the research questions and goals outlined in Chapter 1.
3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN
The following figure 3-1 depicts the process the researcher will follow to design the field study and executed it methodically. It also indicates the process that was followed by the researcher for the fieldwork to be designed and carried out methodically:
Figure 3-1: Research Process
Literature Review
Interview Questionnaire &
Design
Data Gathering Data Analysis Data Interpretation & Presentation
Source: Sekaran and Bougie (2013)
Figure 3-1 describes the research process as a model for data collection, calculation and evaluation based on the study's research questions. The design chosen for the study is empirical with the aim to identify the relevance and the impact of “eleven shift fortnight” working arrangement in a mine where employees need to travel long distances underground before reaching their respective workplaces and any other factors to labour efficiency, utilisation, productivity, availability and the safety of the employees.
3.3 RESEARCH APPROACH
A quantitative research design will be adopted for this study because the researcher wants to get a sample and generalise the findings of the population in the study. This research approach is associated with objectivity where numbers are involved, analysis and interpretation of the collected data, and it is also possible for the researcher to remain detached and objective. The chosen design allows the researcher to generalise the results from a sample to the population of interest, and to measure the incidence of various views and opinions in a chosen sample.
3.4 DATA COLLECTION
Both primary and secondary data will be collected for this study. The primary information on the variables of interest for the general purpose of the study can be gathered by the investigator by means of delivering questionnaire to the employees during mining and engineering safety meetings as well as observing selected teams and recording the findings. The secondary data will be collected from the HR department and also from the safety department during the period of the study.
Data collection is summarised as:
Non-participant quantitative observation - data will be collected by observing selected teams and recoding the findings as being observed.
Questionnaire - data will be collected delivering questionnaire to the employees during mining and engineering safety meetings.
Reports – the researcher will collect reports from Human Resource (HR)
department and also from the safety department during the period of the study.
3.5 RESEARCH TOOL
Structured questionnaires will be used to conduct the survey. Questionnaires pose a series of questions to the participants, whose responses will be tabulated into percentages or frequency counts or statistical indexes and these results will be used to draw inferences about a particular population based on the sample of participants (Leedy and Ormrod, 2013). The questionnaire will consist of closed-ended questions that will prompt the respondent to choose an option from a pre-defined list. Closed-ended questions are opted for because
they are easily coded and statistically analysed without the need for responses first to be translated like it is with open-ended questions.
Questions will be categorised into one of these research headings as follows:
Demographics;
Employee rooster;
Employee work hours;
Family and social life;
Job satisfaction;
Shift work satisfaction;
Fatigue questions;
Team performance;
Observation study; and
Other factors that affect labour productivity and efficiency.
The questionnaire will be initially tested on a pilot sample of three to five respondents to verify the duration it would take to complete and to check for any potential threats to the instrument's internal validity because unreliable questionnaires can influence results (Maree and Van der Westhuizen, 2010). After conducting the pilot study, any errors picked will be rectified before sending the questionnaire out to potential respondents to ensure that the results are not distorted.
3.6 RESEARCH POPULATION
The research population is defined as an overall or total entity in which the researcher's interest is invested (Wilson, 2016:45). Reaching out to the whole fraternity or population in which the research is examined is most likely impossible. Identification of a group of people (smaller in number than the population), collection of individuals, objects or events about which the researcher intend to make inferences is critical (Alvi, 2016:11). For this study, the research population will be all the employees of the organisation under study, which is one of the deep gold mining companies in South Africa.
3.7 SAMPLING
A sample is a subset of the population and includes some of its members (Sekaran and Bougie, 2013). The sampling design that will be used for this study is the probability technique, where the elements in the population have some known, non-zero chance or probability of being selected as sample subjects (Sekaran and Bougie, 2013).
The following process in Figure 3-2 will be recommended when selecting a sample:
Figure 3-2: Sampling Process
Define the Target Population Determine the Sampling Frame Select Sampling Technique Determine the Sample Size Execute Sampling Process
Source: Sekaran and Bougie (2013)
The researcher used a stratified random sampling technique to ensure that specific groups within the unit under study are sampled and represented as per Table 3-1 below. Proportionate stratified random sampling is used for this study. On this type of strategy, the number of elements from each stratum is selected concerning its proportion in the total population (Kumar, 2019). This will be employees who work underground.
Table 3-1. Respondents
Department Total Population/ Department Percentage of strata Sample size/ Department Mining 1059 65.7% 212 Engineering 493 30.6% 99 Safety 13 0.8% 3 Ore Reserve 36 2.2% 7 Ventilation 10 0.6% 2 Total 1611 100% 322
The stratified sampling technique is probably the most efficient among all probability designs. It is the right choice when differentiated information is needed regarding various strata within the population, which are known to differ in their parameters in the sense that for the same number of sample subjects, it offers precise and detailed information (Sekaran and Bougie, 2013).
Zikmund and Babin (2007) stated that there are "three factors that the appropriateness of a sampling technique and these are a) the level of precision (closeness to the proximity population) or, (b) confidence level (how sure the researcher can be) and (c) degree of variability (margin of error)". The sample size needs to be relatively big enough to make sure all insights that are considered crucial are included.
3.8 DATA ANALYSIS
Techniques of descriptive and inferential statistical analysis techniques will be applied to the data through the use of the statistical software R or IBM SPSS.
3.8.1 Descriptive Statistics
Firstly, the participants' demographics will be analysed in order to generate descriptive statistics. The reason behind generating descriptive statistics is to understand the spectrum of the participants of the research. This will be followed by generating descriptive statistics of the variables by calculating the frequencies or averages of all the variables or constructs.
This is to comprehend the participants' positions and opinions on the mentioned variables. The following descriptive statistics will be performed:
Mean, median, and mode will be used to find points of central tendency. The mean is the arithmetic average of the values in the data set, the median is the exact centre value of the numerical array, and the mode is the value that appears most frequently in the data set (Leedy and Ormrod, 2013).
Standard deviation will be used to measure the average variability of values in the data set around the mean.
3.8.2 Cronbach Alpha
The internal accuracy of the questionnaire will be checked using the Cronbach alpha coefficient (table 3-2). Reliability measurements that are larger than 0.70 are generally considered acceptable, while values below 0.50 are considered to be unacceptable, (George and Mallery, 2003). These reliability classifications are described in the following table.
Table 3-2: Cronbach's alpha
Cronbach's alpha Reliability Colour
> 0.90 Excellent
0.80 – 0.89 Good
0.70 – 0.79 Acceptable
0.60 – 0.69 Questionable
0.50 – 0.59 Poor
Source: George and Mallery (2003).
3.8.3 Correlation analysis
To measure the strength and direction of the association between the variables, the product-moment correlation coefficient of Pearson, denoted by r, is applied. The following r interpreting guidelines have been used (Nangolo and Musingwini, 2011):
